Abundant Energy for the Joint Force: Antares Approaches Milestone Test
SVDG strongly believes that energy independence is a fundamental issue of national security, and necessary to sustain the progress made in several other technological areas. We are proud of the efforts Antares is making to make nuclear energy accessible and reliable in all environments, and commend them for the important inclusion in the DoE’s Reactor Pilot Program.
—
Antares, an advanced nuclear energy company, is making rapid progress toward developing a microreactor capable of powering military and commercial infrastructure on Earth and in space. The technology is designed to deliver resilient, reliable, and safe electricity to installations and assets operating in remote or austere environments.
In June 2026, Antares expects to reach a major milestone on the path to demonstrating advanced nuclear energy in action. In August 2025, Antares was one of ten companies selected for the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program, an initiative designed to accelerate the testing and demonstration of advanced reactor designs. The program’s broader goal is to help at least three of these designs achieve nuclear criticality by July 4, 2026—a milestone for U.S. energy innovation and independence.
Reaching criticality means a reactor achieves a self-sustaining, stable nuclear fission chain reaction—each fission event releases enough neutrons to cause exactly one more. This steady state is the normal operating condition for a reactor and allows it to produce power continuously and predictably.
With this exciting milestone and others coming up, Antares is leading among developers of advanced reactors using modern-day, ultra-safe fuel, and refurbished facilities at our national labs to build reactors that are ready for the military to procure in the near future.
Antares will conduct its demonstration in a dedicated test facility at the Idaho National Laboratory under a flexible contract mechanism with the Department of Energy. Development and improvements to this facility started over a year before the DoE announced the pilot program. Fabrication of the reactor’s High Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel is underway, and the engineers at Antares are working through the required safety analysis and system design ahead of the planned June 2026 test.
“It’s an exciting time to be working in fission,” said Jordan Bramble, CEO and co-founder of Antares. “We’re proud to partner with the Department of Energy, Idaho National Laboratory, and others to reach this important milestone.
“For us, this is just the beginning. We’re ecstatic about the potential opportunity to work with the U.S. Army and other military services to help solve contested-logistics challenges and deliver strategic, resilient energy wherever it’s needed.”
Antares’s progress marks a significant step toward fielding compact, deployable nuclear systems capable of powering the next generation of defense and space operations—and strengthening America’s energy resilience.
By Thomas Mancinelli, Head of Federal Strategy and Policy, Antares
